Ascenders Rift

Noon came quickly, and Alan, as well as Angeline, were already nearing the MSS Headquarters; they have driven a relatively quick flying car that brought them into the most distant reaches of a leveled area towards eastern direction. Here, a myriad of tents and buildings with all sorts of military vehicles ranging from tanks, anti-aircraft vehicles, armored fighting vehicles, combat engineering vehicles, ambulances, and others were parked in order.

Beyond the sights of these standard military vehicles, there were sightings of humanoid machines that were roughly three meters in size—mech's that shone in a sleek black and gray color with pilots standing at their sides that wore custom battle suits.

The entire area for a region of a few kilometers was even surrounded by tall walls, as within them was an electric fence system that blocked off some sections. If one looked above, they would notice that this base had drones flying about along with a miniature satellite that regularly monitored all base units.

The soldiers below moved about in a trained and organized manner, some patrolling as others did training in broad fields. Many others stood at key chokepoints withs state of the art rifles in their hands dressed in high tech combat suits with helmets over their heads as they inspected every vehicle that entered their domain.

"How long has it been? Nothing's changed a bit, I see..." Alan murmured while piloting the car.

Angeline smiled in the seat by his side; her eyes flashed as she was only excited that she would have a chance to train with him again. Soon, Alan had landed the car a few meters away from the nearing checkpoint, as he did this, both he and Angeline had gotten out of the car before they started to walk towards the base camp.

However, before they could have even entered the camp, they heard a loud roaring engine behind them. Angeline hearing this was a bit surprised, but Alan merely smirked as he spoke under his breath, " That fellow was always one for showy entrances..."

Vroom! Following Alan's words, a sleek black car bolted from a distance like an arrow rapidly arriving at the base camp, it made a graceful drift before it parked directly at the side of Alan's car in a perfect manner.

Not long after, both doors opened, revealing two men with different actions. One of the men was a black man that held a cigar in his mouth, he placed one hand in the pocket of his overcoat as he walked over to Alan with calmness. His shades were gleaming with the lights from the sun.

As for the other man, his face currently looked pale as if he was about to vomit, but he tried to suck up the feeling as he hurriedly followed behind the black man.

"I see you're on time, Nelly," Alan said as he raised his hand for a fist bump.

Nelly's fist soon connected as he smirked and said, "As if I'd lose to your flying dump, hmph, I've always said it, old school is the way to go."

"Haha, well, I don't know if you've noticed, but I still got here before you," Alan said in a tone of victory.

Nelly, hearing this smiled with no reply; his eyes shift towards a guard that was headed towards their direction. As Alan was about to say something, the guard looked at Nelly with a fierce look as he shouted, "Hey, how many times am I going to have to send you away? Hurry up and get lost! If you come to disturb us again, then we'll be forced to take action!"

As Alan heard this, his eyes went wide as he looked at Nelly with a hint of anger, Nelly glanced at Alan with a matter of fact look as he spoke, "And... what was that about you winning?"

Alan, hearing this, clicked his teeth as he spoke, "Tsk! Nelly, our battle isn't over..."

After saying this, he quickly turned to deal with the guard; Nelly scoffed at this before he also faced the angry guard. However, by this time, the guard's anger had already been handled by Angeline, who showed him her credentials. After clearing things up, the guard made a salute and spoke, "I apologize for my earlier conduct, Ex Instructor Alan, Special Officer Angeline, and company, please right this way."

Alan and the others then promptly followed behind the guard as he escorted them through the various checkpoints. They soon arrived at a secret elevator that let towards an underground facility, after pressing the button to command it, Alan and the others who entered it began to descend.

At this moment, Angeline couldn't help but glance towards Nelly as she thought to herself, 'The Black Hawk of Bloody Friday, I never thought I'd ever work with a guy like him... slaughter of so many souls.'

While Angeline had her thoughts, Alan couldn't help but look at the silent Cline as he spoke, "Mister Cline, I believe we didn't have a formal introduction, I was the one who sent Nelly to pick you up, please call me Alan."

Cline, who was still a bit fearful of his fate, hesitated before he spoke, "N-Nice to meet you, Sir Alan."

Alan looked at him deeply before he spoke, "I bet you are wondering why I went out of my way to save you,"

Cline hearing this nodded, he knew he is in no way comparable to any regular military officials much less those gathered here. If anything, it could be said that he had a bit of knowhow with the use of computers and a wide expertise in cosmology. However, this was no different from other specialists in similar fields.

Alan seeing his look, then replied, "I'll be honest with you, I saved you merely because you were in some way connected to that kid Evan. If it were normal times, I wouldn't even bat an eye for what was about to happen to you."

Cline hearing this shivered slightly, Alan shook his head before he spoke again, "However, this is your chance to prove your worth, our world is changing and as I'm sure you've seen for yourself last time, it won't be such a simple one-two transformation. I've brought you here to give you a chance to prove your abilities, what you do with it is up to you?"

When Cline heard this, he paused for a moment to think, 'I've already been exposed to too much, and even if I wasn't. Then what's likely to come is probably even more dangerous than me being targeted by that group. If I want to preserve my life, then... I'll need to find ways to prove my worth, I must become... a stronger man.'

Cline's eyes soon shone with determination as he looked at Alan and replied, "I... I will do my best,"

Alan nodded at this; he knew that as long as a man found his reason, he would be able to achieve things previously thought impossible.

At this time, the base elevator made a sound as it finally came to a halt. Once this happened, Alan and the others promptly exited and were greeted by a stunning sight.

Before everyone was a wide underground space, with many different mechanical tools surrounding what seemed like a glowing gate. There were teams of special soldiers standing at various corners protecting scientists in lab coats that were checking various forms of data on screens.

At this time, one individual was standing not too far away from this portal; he was a short man with blackish-grey hair, a bulky frame that was dressed in military uniforms that had stripes and badges.

His face was square-shaped, with a large nose, broad lips, and bushy eyebrows and narrowed eyes as he almost seemed as if he was closing them. This man-made a smile as he turned towards Alan's group and spoke in a welcoming tone, "Old pal, you've finally return..."

Alan, hearing this, shook his head and answered, "Haha, it's indeed been a while, Sector Chief Sigor."

As the two spoke, the air seemed to change as if it carried an old history between the two. Sigor stared at Alan's group before winking at Angeline as he gazed at Alan once more and spoke with an inviting gesture, "Well, what are you waiting for, come on up. There are still many things left for us to catch up on before I send you all off to that realm."

As Sigor said this, his eyes shifted towards the blue rift, causing it to reflect within his eyes as he spoke in a voice that trailed off into the surroundings, "Times have truly changed..."